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Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast.
THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS
Klarna is shifting its business away from growth and towards short-term profitability as the Swedish FinTech tries to raise capital and cuts 10 per cent of jobs due to fears of a looming recession. Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Klarna’s chief executive and co-founder, told the Financial Times he was not “convinced” by reports that his bank would have to raise capital at a valuation below its most recent one of $46bn, which made it the most valuable private tech company in Europe.
JUST IN:
Latin American crypto exchange Bitso laid off 80 employees on Thursday, the company told CoinDesk. “Our decisions about the people who work in our company are made on the basis of our long-term business strategy and to support our customers and our strategy as a company,” Bitso said in a statement. Bitso, which had more than 700 employees before the layoffs, still lists more than 60 open positions on its jobs page.
ALSO:
Starling Bank's Anne Boden is to chair a Government-backed ‘Taskforce on Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises’, which aims to support women entrepreneurs, tackle investing barriers, and increase the number of women-led fast-growing businesses.
AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
Market-leading SaaS banking platform Mambu, and Brim Financial (Brim), one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in North America, announced a strategic partnership to deliver a modern, more powerful digital banking, deposit, lending and cards platform across Canada and the U.S.
Coingrig has integrated Nordigen’s open banking platform to increase the ease of bank connectivity to their digital wallet.
WHAT’S THE LATEST ON VENTURE FUNDS?
Ânima Educação, a Brazilian educational group ahead of 18 universities and more than 570 educational centers, has launched a Corporate Venture Capital Association (CVC) fund to invest in startups. Called Ánima Ventures, the new fund comes to the market with BRL 150 million and plans to invest in strategic tech companies over the next 10 years.
WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS?
ZenLedger, a Seattle, WA-based global leader in cryptocurrency data analysis, accounting, and tax, closed a $15M Series B funding.